


Vampire

by CuddlyHawk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Character Turned Into Vampire, Langst, Mild Blood, Vampire Bites, Vampire Turning, Vampires, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-01 22:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14530800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuddlyHawk/pseuds/CuddlyHawk
Summary: "I'm sorry Hunk...""Lance.""I had to shoot Hunk!""Lance.""My best friend!""LANCE!""WHAT KEITH?""You need to shoot me too."





	Vampire

It started out like any normal day. The paladins of Voltron were on a recon mission to an uncharted planet to search for life. It was one of the few planets not controlled by the galra, and they wanted to keep it that way by getting anything that lived on the planet on their side. Pidge and Shiro went on a different route, while Lance, Hunk, and Keith walked together through the thick jungle.

After a few hours of walking and trying to scavenge for any sign of life with no luck, Hunk finally noticed small animal tracks in the dirt. "Hey you guys, look at this!" He called, beckoning the others over. Lance and Keith had been in a bit of a bickering match, but quickly dropped it when they came to Hunk's side. "It looks like some kind of squirrel. Small, with paws for feet. What do you guys think?"

Keith scrunched up his nose. "I hate squirrels," he mumbled, crossing his arms and taking a step back. "They're too bold for my taste."

"Ooh, so you like to be the bold one?" Lance said tauntingly, which made Keith scowl but not reply.

"Please knock it off," Hunk sighed, getting on all fours and peering under the foliage. "It looks like there's a small opening down here, just enough for a small creature to stay. I think this could be its hiding place!" Laying flat on his stomach, Hunk reached an arm out under the plants to get a better view of the small den. "Hey there," he cooed, "it's alright, come on out. We won't hurt you, we want to help if we can!"

From inside the plant, small shuffling could be heard, and a warning hiss sounded from the den. Hunk pulled back for a moment, then reached out again. "It's alright, you're okay. Come on out, why don't you?"

Lance was squatting next to Hunk, brow furrowed in concern. He didn't like this. "Hunk, maybe we should look for something else, I don't think it wants to interact with--!"

Hunk's shout of surprise drowned out Lance's sentence. Without warning, the squirrel-creature had launched itself out of the den and opened its legs, revealing webbing like a bat and flying squirrel mix, and it went right for Hunk's face. Hunk pushed himself up with speed no one knew he had, and threw himself backward, clawing at the creature and screaming for help while it fluttered with incredible speed all over his face, leaving small scratches and marks on Hunk's cheeks. Lance had somehow gotten involved and was trying to grab the creature to pull it off of Hunk, while screaming himself. The noise resonated through the quiet of the forest, making other hidden animals jump and scurry.

Keith had his bayard out, but wasn't sure what exactly to do with it. He couldn't exactly swipe at the thing without risking hitting Hunk. But he couldn't just let the squirrel-bat keep going, who knows when it would stop! Suddenly all the movement stopped and Hunk let out a bellowing yell.

"AGH MY NECK!"

Sure enough, the bat had latched itself onto his neck, fangs deep into the skin, wings flat against Hunk's collar and wrapping around the back of his neck slightly. Somehow it had bitten through the protective black jumpsuit and had lodged itself under the armor. Lance grabbed it and squeezed while pulling, trying to get it to let go, but all it did was make Hunk cry out. "No!! Wait, it's got a huge chunk of my neck in its mouth!" Tears were budding in Hunk's eyes. "What do I do? Help me!"

Keith stepped forward this time and seized the animal's body, reaching up with his mother's blade rather than his bayard, and slit the creature's head from its body mercilessly. The body twitched a few times, but the jaw had gone slack and Keith was able to pry the fangs from Hunk's neck and toss the body aside. "Are you alright?" He asked, mouth pressed into a firm, straight line.

Hunk had actual tears streaming down his face at this point. "I..." He looked at the discarded body, headless and leaving a puddle of blood on the jungle floor. "It's dead..."

"It was biting you and we have no idea what kinds of venom those creatures have. We need to get you back to the infirmary." Keith said, still unshaken that he had killed an animal. He pulled Hunk's arm over his shoulder and helped hoist him up. "You gonna help?" He challenged Lance, who was still standing there staring.

"Uh, yeah, yeah." He seemed in a strange stupor, eyes constantly looking at Hunk's bite mark through the torn black fabric. "That was weird, huh?" He asked weakly, trying to lighten the mood. No one replied to him.

The going was hard but they eventually made it to the rendezvous point and were able to get a signal up to the castle to come get them. By that time, Hunk wasn't doing so good. He was pale but feverish, sluggish and heavy in Lance and Keith's grip. He was murmuring softly, but the other two couldn't figure out what he was saying.

Apparently Shiro and Pidge had finished their side with nothing to report, as they were already on the castle by the time it landed for the other three paladins. They used Shiro and Coran's help getting Hunk to one of the pods, and they all collapsed on the couches once everything was taken care of. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, so Lance filled them in. Keith was quiet like he typically was, a faraway look in his eyes and arms crossed as he stood at the edge of the room, away from everyone else.

When Lance started talking about how Keith was a 'hero' and killed the squirrel-bat, Keith couldn't take it anymore and he left, slinking away to his room. Sitting on the bed, he looked at the blade. There was speckled blood on it and he knew he should clean it so it wouldn't rust. This wasn't the first time he had killed an animal. But usually he killed for food. He had killed plenty of snakes in the desert. Small desert rats and the occasional roadrunner if he could throw his knife fast enough. But this was different. He didn't kill it because it was necessary. He killed it because he was impulsive and couldn't think of any other way to get the squirrel to let go. He felt guilty, but couldn't tell the others.

Hours passed and no one really came to bother him. Keith had changed into his normal clothes and had cleaned the blade of the blood. And when he looked at the clock, he realized it was almost 2am. Everyone else would be asleep. Maybe he should go visit Hunk. It might help him sleep, knowing he helped save Hunk's life.

It was quiet and dark in the castle, just the way Keith liked it. When he got into the medbay, the only real source of light was coming from the pod Hunk stood in, eyes closed peacefully. But as Keith stepped closer, he saw that the mark on his neck was spreading. These black tendrils snaked up Hunk's neck and down his shoulder. Keith frowned and stepped closer for a better look. That didn't seem good. Almost like an infection. A black, nasty infection. He was about to press the button to open the pod to check Hunk himself, but Hunk's eyes snapped open. They were solid black and when he smiled darkly at Keith, he noticed that Hunk had sharp canines. Like, insanely sharp.

Taking a step back, Keith reached toward the button to call for help, but Hunk reached up and slammed his meaty fists against the pod, causing it to rattle dangerously. Keith jumped and felt his heart jump into his throat. He quickly slapped the alarm button just as Hunk pounded against the glass again, causing it to shatter. He landed on all fours and launched himself at Keith. Keith's bayard materialized and he used it like a buffer between him and Hunk, holding it sideways and blocking the larger man from coming too close. Hunk was snarling and thick drool spilled from his mouth. It was yellowish in color, and very thick. Knowing he was in over his head, Keith turned and started running.

Down the hall, turn a corner, down another hall, up some stairs, through a doorway, slamming the button to close the door behind him, down another hall and around another corner and suddenly he felt like he had lost Hunk. He couldn't hear him chasing him anymore. Keith's heart was in his throat, pounding adrenaline quickly through his body. What the heck had happened? What kind of animal was on that planet?

So much for sleeping tonight.

A low growl could be heard through the vents, and Keith froze. No way, Hunk couldn't fit in the vents. Was he hearing things? From somewhere down one of the darkened halls, Keith saw a pair of reflective eyes staring directly at him. When he blinked, the eyes were gone. Now he was panicking. "Guys, help!" He shouted, unashamed for once to ask for assistance. "HELP!!"

He heard a noise behind him but before he could turn around, Keith was suddenly thrown forward onto his chest, knocking the wind from him and causing him to wheeze painfully. He couldn't catch his breath before a heavy weight was on top of him, pushing his shoulders into the ground. A snarl and a thick dripping sound next to his ear told him that Hunk had found him. He was terrified and started squirming, trying to dislodge his bayard from under him so he could have some kind of leverage. With a loud grunt, he was able to free the sword and smacked Hunk with the flat of it, turning over and holding the point toward Hunk's face. "You back off or I'll--!" Hunk grabbed the bayard by the blade, seemingly unaware of the blood that streamed down his hands, and started a rough scuffle with Keith, who fought valiantly.

That was how the others found them, wrestling and pushing and shoving, a red bayard in the middle of it all, while snarling and grunting and heavy breathing could be heard. Coran rushed forward. "Boys! Come now, break it up," he reached forward and tried to grab Hunk, but he was met with an angry snap of dangerous teeth, and recoiled quickly.

Lance swallowed thickly. "Hunk..." he saw the huge, swollen mark on Hunk's neck and how his eyes were bloodshot and black at the same time, how his spit was all over the floor, along with some blood from his and Keith's fighting. Allura took a step forward, worry etched onto her face.

"What should we do?" She asked worriedly, and Coran suddenly snapped his fingers and took off running out of the room. Allura watched him leave and turned back to the paladins. Keith was tiring fast, but Hunk seemed to have boundless energy. No one really wanted to get involved but they were unsure how to end the fighting. Coran came back eventually and pointed a gun at the two. Lance nearly tackled Coran with how powerfully he crashed into him.

"Don't shoot!"

"My boy, this is a quick diagnosis tool, it will not harm them. Please get out of the way," he said firmly, pushing Lance to the side. Sure enough, when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened, but Coran suddenly became interested in a hologram tablet in his gauntlet. "Hunk has been infected with the tzatkieran poison," he said gravely. Allura gasped and looked back to the two who were still scuffling. Hunk had managed to pin Keith and seemed to be sniffing him, his face and chest and shoulders.

"We need to get him away from Keith then," Allura said sternly. "Any way possible."

Pidge cleared her throat softly. "What's the tzat...something virus?" she wondered, eyes huge with fear.

Coran bit his lip as he tried to think of a way to explain it. "One creature gets infected, and if they bite another, then that one becomes infected too. The cycle continues. And eventually when the poison reaches the person's brain, it kills them slowly." He took a deep breath. "There's no known cure."

Lance nodded gravely. "Like a vampire..." he whispered.

Pidge slapped his arm. "More like rabies, or HIV." Lance just shrugged.

Keith wheezed from where he was under Hunk's dangerous grip. "Someone, please! PLEASE!" he shouted, thrashing fruitlessly. Lance fidgeted, fingers playing softly at the edge of his bayard, unsure if he should use it or not.

"It will be a painful death for Hunk, and we will lose Keith too unless we do something," Coran warned. "There's no time to get a sedative. Does anyone have their weapons on them?"

Shiro stepped forward, hand already starting to glow. "I can end it," he said lowly, expression heavy with remorse. But Lance jumped in front of him, keeping him from going to Hunk.  
"No, he's my best friend. I can do it."

Shiro gave him a skeptical look. "Exactly, he's your friend. We couldn't ask you to do that."

"There's no time and I can make it end so quickly. One shot, it'll be over. I know it's what he would have wanted. Please." Shiro looked like he was about to argue, but eventually conceded and stepped back. Lance stood behind Hunk and rested a hand on his shoulder, causing the larger man to look away from Keith for a moment, snarling at Lance. But Lance's expression was blank and he aimed the gun under the back of Hunk's neck, up toward his brain. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

BANG

There was a long beat of silence after that.

Then a muffled groan as Keith tried to push Hunk's weight off him. By the time he was able to crawl out from under him and push himself to sit against the wall, he was breathing hard and favoring his arm. Lance's gun clattered to the ground and Lance's knees soon followed. Right next to his best friend, who had a huge hole in the back of his head. It was cauterized from the laser blast of Lance's gun, but it still stunk like burnt hair and flesh and brain. Lance fell to all fours, head bowed. "I'm so sorry..." he breathed, tears spilling from his eyes.

"At least it's over now. He's out of his misery and no one else got hurt," Shiro soothed, kneeling next to Lance and rubbing his back gently.

"Hunk..." Lance cried, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

"Ah, Lance," Keith murmured quietly, almost too soft for anyone to hear.

"I shot him. I did it. He's dead..."

"Lance."

"He's dead and it's all my fault..."

"Lance!"

"I shot him."

"Lance!!"

Lance whipped his head up. "What, Keith?! What could you possibly want right now?"

Keith looked like he'd been kicked. A guilty expression spread over his face and he looked down at his arm, wanting to say something but suddenly finding himself unable to speak. Lance's expression softened when he saw how beaten-up Keith looked. He didn't deserve the anger. Sure, Lance was angry. But he really couldn't take it out on anyone. He crawled over to Keith and rested an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Keith was quiet for a while. Then he slowly shook his head. Lance's breath caught.

"What's wrong?"

"You..." Keith took a deep breath. "You need to shoot me too." He held up his arm, revealing a nasty, Hunk-sized bite in his forearm. It was bleeding, but there was also a significant amount of yellow venom on and around it. Already it was turning red and swelling. "I can feel it already, please Lance."

Lance had gone white.

No, not again. He just killed one of his best friends, how could he kill the guy he was rivals with? The guy he...kinda actually liked? No, he couldn't do it. Lance shook his head in a stupor, murmuring, "No, no..." over and over.

"Lance, please. Before I do something I'll regret." Already Keith was wincing and his complexion was paling. "There's no cure, I heard Coran. You need to do it. I want you to do it."

"You can't put that kind of pressure on me!" Lance cried, tears already threatening at his eyes again. "I just did it once, that's enough traumatizing for one day! Let Shiro do it!"

Keith shook his head. "Shiro has enough on his conscience-ngh," Keith gritted his teeth as a shot of pain darted up his nerves. "You have to!"

Lance shook his head harder. "No, I can't!"

"Please, Lance! It's already starting to hurt and I'm not sure how much longer I have. I can't hurt anyone else. I'm telling you to shoot me and that's an order, soldier!"

Time stood still and Lance just knelt there, arm shaking as it rested on Keith's shoulder. He needed an extra push. Shiro scooped up his bayard and handed it to Lance. "It's for the best," he said softly. "Keith's come to terms with it. You need to too." He then turned and took Pidge's hand, pulling her away from the scene. She followed easily, obviously in shock. Shiro would take care of her. But just to be safe, Allura followed them out, giving Lance and Keith some privacy, save for Coran, who felt like he should be there just in case anything happened.

"My boy, there's a saying in Altean. Roughly translated, it means, 'Save not the many by sparing the one.' So if you don't do it now, who knows who else will get infected. It could be the whole castle, or even an entire planet, like the one you and the others visited. Planets get infected with things, but the important thing is keeping the virus contained so it doesn't spread."

Keith's eyes were glassy and his face was sickly pale with a dark flush on his cheeks. "C'mon guys, it...it really h-hurts. Please Lance. Make it stop..."

"I can't..."

"MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! MY ARM IS ON FIRE AND MY BRAIN IS BEING BLENDED. PUT ME OUT OF THIS. LANCE, PLEASE! PLEASE!!" He was begging now but he couldn't stop.

Lance's eyes were spilling with tears as he held his bayard closer to him. Coran squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "It'll be over soon," he said softly over Keith's wails. Lance, sobbing loudly now, leveled the gun at Keith's face.

"I'm so sorry," he cried out. "Please forgive me, Keith."

Keith's eyes widened and a sad smile spread over his face. It had started out as a normal day, how could it end like this? With the last of his strength he gritted out, "It's okay."

BANG

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a Town of Salem round where I was Keith and there was someone named Lance and someone named Hunk. Hunk was infected as a vampire, so I had Keith get infected as a vampire so Lance had to choose between me and Hunk, and eventually he had to shoot both of us and everyone was saying how impactful it was, so I thought I'd write this fic


End file.
